Cabinet for small articles.



BATENTED SEPT. 26, 1905.

' A. B. FISHER.

CABINET FOR SMALL ARTICLES. APPLICATION I'ILBD AUG.19, 1904.

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FIG. 8. FIG. 9. Fla/1o.

WITNESSES: IJI'V'EJM:0R.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADAM 'E. FISHER, OF HANNIBAL, MISSOURI.

CABINET FOR SMALL ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 26, 1905'.

Application filed Aug 11st 19, 1904. Serial No. 221,383.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADAM E. FIsHER, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Hannibal, in the county of Marion and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cabinets for Small Articles; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accom panying drawings, and to theletters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. I

My invention relates to improvements in cabinets for holding various small articlestools, implements, &c.+in ready position, for use. The device may be used for holding thimbles, scissors, thread-spools, needles,'&c., in readiness for use by tailors and dressmakers, or to hold light surgical implements and appli- V ances in a doctors oflice or operation-room, or

the greatest possible variety of small articles and tools used by a person in a certain line of business; second, to provide-means whereby the return of the articles and tools to the cabinet will be insured, so that they willalways be found in their respective places instead ofgetting covered up by and often lost among the papers on the desk; third, to provide a I cabinet whereby such tools and articles may be elevated above the desk, and thus leave more room for thebooks and papers on the desk. These and other objects I attain by the novel construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective front elevation of my desk-cabinet, as it may in this description be termed. Fig. 2 is a top view of the cabinet with the cover omitted. Fig. 3 is a diametrical sectional View of some of the pulleywheels shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of the cabinet near one of the pulley-wheels 27. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the lower part of the cabinet, near the middle of same, showing certain modifications. Fig. 6 is an edge view, and Fig. 7 a side view, of the clamp holding the blotter secured. to its cord. Fig. 8 is an enlargement of the central por= tion of Fig. 4. Fig. 9 is a modification of Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a cross-section of one of the cords holding the tools to the cabinet and i the locking means secured upon the cords.

Fig. 11 is a side view of Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a modified form of the cabinet.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals and letters, 1 designates the frame of the device. This may be a skeleton frame or, as in the present instance, have the form of a box ofcasing, angular, as in Fig. 1, or cyllndrlcal, as 1n Fig. 12. I

In the, formv Fig. 1 the casing is provided 7 with lugs 2 and 8, by which the casing-may be secured upon either avertical or level surface of a desk or other stationary object. In the most perfect grade of the device I mount the casing or frame on a pedestal or foot 4, securable to the desk, and may have its upper end permanently and rigidly se ured to the frame; but I prefer, to use a swivel-joint, so

that the frame or cabinet may be turned with either side'toward the operator. This is best shown in Fig. 5, where the plate 5 is secured by the screws 6 to the bottom 7 of the cabinet, and a central round hole in the plate takes'with its edges under the beveled head 8 of the foot or support 4. In said view is also shown a sliding dog 9, dropped into a socket 10-on the support 4, with a spring 11 below it, so that the dog is at all times ready to engage either of the indentures 12 in the plate .5, and thus hold the cabinet with either side toward the operator; The indentures 12 are so shallow that they eject and release the rounded end of the dog when the operator applies the force of a few fingers to turn the cabinet, so as to rea'ch'the tools arranged about it. I

In the horizontally-elongated form shown "in Figs. 1, 2, and 3a horizontal shaft 13 is sup ported with'its ends inthe end walls of the frame or casing 1, one end of the shaft being firmly held by the set-screw 14 in the bearing 15 and the other end being simply supported in a socket 16, secured upon the opposite end wall 17, which is hinged at 18 and held closed by a hook 19, engaging a staple 20 or similar means, so that the part or door 17 may be opened when it is desired to place pulleys upon or remove them from the shaft l3. For

similar purposes the top or cover 21 of the l cabinet is also hinged at 22 and held closed by i a hook 23.

Upon the shaft 13 is arranged a series of springs 24, having their inner ends secured to the shaft, preferably in a sliding manner, by inserting them in a longitudinal groove 25 in the shaft, which groove may be formed in the side of a solid shaft, as in Fig. 9, or in a tubular shaft, as in Figs. 4 and 8. Each of said springs is coiled into acylindrical cavity 26 in the side of a pulley-wheel 27, in which the outer end of the spring is secured, as shown at 28 in Fig. 4. Said pulley-wheels or pulleys are provided with peripherical grooves 29, which may be segmental, as in most of the views, or angular, as at 29 in Fig. 2. In said grooves are wound cords 30, having their inner ends secured to the pulleys and their outer ends extended outward through apertures 31 in the sides of the casing. To the said outer ends of the cords are secured the Various tools, implements, and articlesas, for instance, in Fig. 1where A is a rubber eraser, B a blotter, C a penl cil writing red and blue, as is often used in office -work. D is a funnel shaped pencilsharpener; E a steel eraser andletter-opening knife combined. F and G are rubber stamps of different constructions as to the handle part, and so on, other articles may be attached to as many wheels and cords as desired upon one or both sides of the cabinet.

It will be observed that the apertures 31 arekeyhole-shaped, and each cord is provided near its inner end with a knot or locking-ball 32, which may pass through the large end of the elongated aperture 31, but cannot pass through the narrow part of it, which narrow part may be to one side, as in the last aperture to the left in Fig. 1, or downward, as in all the other apertures.

In using the various tools and articles the operator grasps the desired articlessay the blotterB-and pulls against the resistance of the spring 24: until the locker 32 gets outside the casing,when aslight motion with the string toward the narrow end of the aperture causes the locker to engage at the sides of the said narrow part, so that the spring cannot pull on the blotter (or other article) until the operator has used it, when he gives the string a slight pull toward the large end of the aperture, so that the locker enters the same and the spring pulls the blotter to its normal position upon the casing.

To make this cabinet so much more convenient and capacious as a desk-cabinet, I provide a top edge of the cover 21 with a guard 33 to keep small articles more safely on the top of the cabinet, and upon said top or cover I place the covered inking-pad 34, used for rubber stamps, and the covered pin-tray 35 and the box 36 for paper-fasteners, and at the ends of the cabinet are secured forks or clasps 37, in which to suspend or hold such rubber stamps as are less frequently in use.

Upon the front side of the post or foot 1 l secure a rest 38 for pencils and pens 3.) and similar articles, and between said rest and the very foot-plate of the post I is held a penwiper 10, made of a line sponge or other suitable materials.

Going now into a more detailed description of the interior mechanisms. it will be seen in Figs. 2 and 3 that thin disks or plates 4T1 may be interposed between and partly into the pulleys 27 to steady the pulleys and prevent the springs 24 from frictional contact with the back of the adjacent pulley and to enable a collar a3 (see Fig. 2) to hold the pulleys together on the shaft. If, however, the. springs fit properly the cavities in the pulleys and the adjacent back of the next pulley is smooth, the plates i1 may be dispensed with, except the last plate, which touches the collar 13.

In order to keep the various tools and articles as far apart as possible, they are arranged in several horizontal rows upon one or more sides of the cabinet, and the springs 24 are so positioned that they pull the cords alternately from opposite sides of the cabinet and from top and bottom of the dill'erent pulleys, as shown in Fig. 2 and still better in Fig. 4.

In Figs. (3 and 7 is shown a preferable form of clamp 15 for attaching to the cords the various articles. It is especially adapted for the blotter B, which its wide jaws M will held without tearing, The clamp is formed of a simple V-shaped spring 17, with the jaws 4 .1 secured upon its arms and :1 ring to sliding upon the arms so as to force the jaws together upon the article to be held.

In Fig. 12 is shown how the shaft 13 may be placed in vertical position, and in that instance the casing of the cabinet may be cylindrical and with its shaft 13 revolve upon the foot-piece 4 in much the same manner as shown in Fig. 5.

The lockers 32 may be mere knots on the cords 30 or they may be metallic balls open in one side, as at 49 in Figs. 10 and 11, so that after the cord is placed into the central aperture of the ball the latter may be closed so tightly upon the cord as to retain its place in all ordinary use. A large knot 41b in Fig. 1 may be used to limit the retraction of the cords.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters latcut, is

1. A cabinet for small articles, the same comprising a foot-piece or standard securable to a desk or similar object, a casing or frame revolubly mounted on the top of the standaid and having side apertures, means for holding the casing with the necessary lirmness in yarious positions, a series of spring-turned pulleys mounted in the casing, strings-or cords wound upon the pulleys and extending outward through said apertures in opposite sides of the cabinet, for supporting the said articles at various points upon the casing.

2. In a cabinet of the class described, the

combination with a box-shaped elongated.

frameprovided with side apertures and havmg its cover and one of 1ts ends swinging on hinges, and in said end a socket; of a shaft extending through the frame and having one end secured in the fixed end of the box and its othei'end supported in said socket, springrotated pulleys journaled onthe shaft and cords carried by the pulleys and extending I5 through said apertures in the sides of the box or frame and supporting light articles at the W. A. DAVIS.

E. HAYMAN. 

